Kayak Koz

What a lousy weekend bass fishing on Lake Oconee this weekend. Because I don't have a vehicle that can transport my kayak, I'm currently limited to fishing the area near Fish Tale marina where the water is pretty much shallow throughout. I did venture further out on Saturday and pedaled to new areas about 4 miles from my launch point before wetting a line. I was out on the water by 5:15 am on Saturday and what struck me is I saw no one fishing in the areas I fished or pedaled by. Not one other boat fishing. I think that pretty much says the fishing is lousy in this area, at least this time of year. Along the way I had the side scan going and there's absolutely nothing under the water except flats and mud. No vegetation, submerged timber, or rocks. There are zero weeds or grass in my area, even along the banks. There are occasional humps and a few drop offs, but those are out in the channel. Oconee is narrow in my area, and I don't want to sit out in the channel on a kayak with all of the weekend boat traffic. Sunday I headed out to my usual haunts in the late afternoon, and again it was tons of baitfish and carp. I fish docks and laydowns and found nothing. On both days I gave up hunting for bass, put on a beetlespin and at least caught some bluegill. I did catch one small bluegill on a 3/8 oz spinnerbait - but I didn't even hook him. He grabbed onto the skirt and didn't let go until I got him over the kayak. That was actually pretty funny. The hybrid fishing had actually been decent lately, but it shut off this weekend. If anyone has any tips on fishing this section of Oconee I'd lover to hear them. I have a few more places to try, but my cruising speed while pedaling is 3-3.5 mph and it's going to take me 90 minutes just to get out there. I love my kayak, but right now I'm missing bank fishing in the SC Lowcountry.

My TP1X MH "all purpose" makes for a decent topwater rod, but I found the sensitivity lacking compared to my Mach II and even my old Lew's American hero baitcast rod. I like my lightweight Dobyns 703C and I find it to be more sensitive than the TP1X, although I find the Dobyns lacks significant backbone despite it being listed as MH. None of those holds a candle to my St. Croix, but I will say the Mach II is underrated for sensitivity.

That's definitely one of the issues depending upon the size of your kayak. There's also trying to net a fish with a longer rod as well.

I did a review on it last year: I will add this - my TP1X is now gathering dust. It has been replaced with a Dobyn's Fury 703C and a St. Croix Mojo Yak.

Alligator

Today is my only day off this week. I was out on my kayak by 5:15 am. I should have stayed in bed and slept.

I was new vehicle shopping earlier in the year and didn't pull the trigger. Since then the value of my current vehicle has gone up $2,000. In the past 6 weeks I've had to replace the AC compressor, master cylinder, and two front tires. In the past I would have immediately sold the car instead of foot the cost of the AC compressor replacement, but with both new and used car prices what they are I had teh repairs done instead. Dealers aren't even dealing now. Car selling prices are sticker price or above thanks to inflation and the chip shortage. I drove past a new car dealer the other day and was surprised at how empty their lot was. It's going to take a long time for production to catch up and bring prices down again. You just might want to bite the bullet and get the repairs done.

I have a 12' 3" pedal kayak and I recently purchased a 7' M St. Croix Mojo Yak rod and it's perfect for fishing in my kayak. I love it because the butt end is short enough so it doesn't catch on my PFD but not so short like a pistol grip where it's hard to gain any leverage. The other primary rod I use on my kayak is a 7' MH Dobyn's Fury 703C. It's another rod that I love, but not as comfortable to fish out of the kayak because the butt end occasionally jams into my PFD. The one thing I wish is that St. Croix made the Mojo Yak in a 7' MH model. Their MH model is 7' 6" and I find rods that long to be a bit unwieldy on a kayak.

I’ve been fishing flooded timber, lay downs, and humps with zero luck. Tons of baitfish everywhere, but no LMB. I have been catching hybrid bass about 40 feet off the causeways, but nothing more than a pound or so. I do have a few new target areas, but it’s about a 90 minute pedal on my kayak to get there.

At only 25 acres its easy to cover the entire basin, especially in a kayak. In hot weather look for bass to stage in deeper water near the aerators. In hot weather I've found baitfish near aerotors, and even found bass taking cover underneath them. Look for stream inlets and outlets, then since you don;t have electronics assume there's a creek bed between the two. Bass will hunker down there as well. But I would just fish the entire thing, note time of day and weather, and make notes.

Funny you should ask. I've been thinking about taking a day and heading out on my kayak and just running the sidescan to mark underwater structure.

After every trip I strip down my kayak (except the seat) and have to lift it by the nose to drain the water. So I don't see any problem lifting the nose to put it on something like a Yakima ShowBoat extension and sliding it onto the roof. When I get too old to do that I'll buy a trailer. Part of the reason why I like my kayak is the exercise although pulling it up the hill to my hotel on a hot day after 4 hours on the water can be brutal.

To me it seems if you can lift the kayak into those arms. you could just lift it onto the roof. My kayak is 94 pounds without the seat, electronics, or any other gear. There's no easy way I could dead lift it into that cradle.

Oconee

It is my experience that people moving from spinning gear to baitcasters get a lot of backlashes because of casting technique. With spinning gear there's no problem getting whippy with your cast or trying to muscle a cast out there because of the way that the line comes off of the spool. You simply can't do that with a baitcaster with the line coming off the spool inline with the bait. More importantly, you don't need to. Casting for distance with a baitcaster is primarily controlled by your brake and tension settings. You an see what I mean by cranking them both down, making an easy toss, and noting the distance. Then turn off the brakes, loosen the tension, and make a cast using the same motion and force and note the distance. With a baitcaster, focus on being smooth and letting your elbow be the hinge that drives the cast, not your wrist. As you get more experience you will learn how much wrist you can put into it with different casting techniques (overhand, 3/4, sidearm, pitch, flip, etc.). For distance casting, remember that it's your brakes, tension, and the weight of your lure that are the primary factors, not how much power you try and put into the cast. Easy and smooth is your friend as you develop experience. Braid is not the issue. In fact, I find it easier to control on baitcasters than mono or flouro, but that's my personal bias. That's where I think confidence plays a bigger part in what line people consider better on a baitcaster.

Are other people catching bass in that body of water? You may be struggling to catch LMB or SMB simply because there aren't a lot of them where you fish. In the section of the big lake that I fish the LMB population isn't as prevalent as the population of stripers and wipers (hybrid bass). I still target and catch LMB, but especially this time of year I'm more likely to catch a wiper.

Once I got out of college I never drank much, but on hot South Carolina days I occasionally enjoyed coconut rum and pineapple or orange pineapple juice over crushed ice. Very refreshing.

Buy a pedal kayak ?

I just picked up my computer screen and turned it on its side. /s

Crawfish, of course.

I'm good with either a dry rub or sauce. But the sauce has to be really good. Not any old sauce will do.

Speaking of watching the weather, I was out on my kayak this morning but with afternoon storms on the way I packed it in for the day. Later that afternoon I was driving by parts of the lake and with lightning all around and scary skies on the horizon there were a ton of boats and jet skis out on the water. Absolutely ridiculous.

As a kid, underrated. As an adult, overrated. Underrated or overrated: Baby back ribs coated in BBQ sauce

I think that most of us here on BR are conservationists when it comes to fishing and practice catch and release unless we need food or DNR asks for a cull. We try and do our best to protect marine life at all times. That being said, things like this happen, but it's the circle of life. The turtles and the birds will be grateful for the meal.

I understand why the mesh is there, but when you fish and spend hours in the sun day after day protection from the sun is far more important.